Disclaimer for entire story: I do not own Naruto, but the new plot is my own.
New Strength
kkstev
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The walk home was quiet but pleasant. Once again Sakura was able to make her way to her destination without drawing much attention. But she could not help the nearly imperceptible smile that graced her features during her walk. She found some peace from her usually frustrating thoughts, but was also productive. Overall, a good day.
Nothing could ruin her birthday.
Or at least that was how she felt on her journey back to Sengaku. But in reality, she knew that her family would not allow her to keep her happily sedate feeling all the way through until she went to sleep that night, effectively ending her day.
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Sakura stepped over the threshold to her home and called out to the house that she was home as she slipped off her shoes. She did not get a response immediately, so she curiously wandered the house to see where everyone was. Finding no one in the living room or kitchen, she shrugged her shoulders, silently counting her blessings, and made her way upstairs towards her bedroom.
She dropped her bag on the bed and looked around quickly to see if anything seemed out of place. Everything appeared to be in order on the surface, so Sakura decided to raid the kitchen for some dinner.
Being careful to securely close her door behind her, she went back to the kitchen, checking the refrigerator first. There was some chicken that was in need of cleaning and cutting. Convenient, as Sakura figured her favorite meal would suffice to top off this wonderful day. To be sure that everything she would need was available, she closed the refrigerator door and turned to the cabinets intending to check for rice.
But before she made it back across the kitchen, Sakura felt the familiar sensation of being watched for the second time that day. Turning to the source, she saw her brother leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. How she had originally missed his dark red hair standing out so defiantly against the pale walls behind him, she could not really figure out.
Trying to not jump to any conclusions, to make the best of the situation, Sakura looked back at him waiting for him to say something. When he didn't after a few moments, she decided to keep things light. "Hey, aniki, want some chicken and rice? I was just checking if there was enough to make a full meal," and looking up to the cabinet, she saw a few bags of rice, more than enough for a dinner for two.
Pulling the closest bag down, then turning around to get the chicken and some vegetables from the fridge, Sakura settled the ingredients on the counter. Satisfied with the collection, she peered up again, wondering why Shii still had not spoken. Apparently, he was not appreciative of being ignored – or at least of not having her full attention – because he only spoke once he had her focus.
"Yeah, guess that actually sounds pretty good. All I've had today was some crap okaa-san threw on a plate earlier. And you cook pretty good for a midget." He smirked at the last part, and Sakura had no choice but to accept it, as his teasing was the closest it ever got to affection between them. And besides, five foot three wasn't exactly midget status. No giant, but the reasonable number was enough to ease any hurt pride at being thought of as small. So she smiled while shaking her head, "Well, I'm glad I can be of service."
Shii moved towards the kitchen table and sat down on one of the mats, just watching Sakura work. It made her uncomfortable when his dark brown eyes bore into her back. Plus the fact that he was so quiet – definitely disconcerting. So used to the work she was doing in preparing dinner, Sakura found nothing to distract from her worrying, 'What could he be thinking about so hard? And why is it making him shut his huge mouth? It's like that thing runs on its own extra power source, he even talks in his sleep for Kami-sama's sake!' She gulped, realizing that whatever it was, it could not be good. 'Just hope its got nothing to do with me. Actually, screw hope – if any of the good Kamis up there have any regard for a panicking, pink-haired random villager, please take pity on me!'
Knowing it was all probably futile, she turned on the stove to heat up the pan. She quickly cooked the seasoned chicken with the vegetables and put the contents over the two full bowls of white rice. When she set the bowls on the table, Sakura walked across the kitchen once more to get them both glasses of water before finally settling down at the mat across from her brother.
She smiled weakly at him before beginning to eat. Still unusually quiet, Shii finally picked up a piece of chicken and popped it into his mouth, chewing slowly and thoughtfully. Satisfied with what he was eating, he swallowed and finally broke the silence.
"Didn't see you up at school today."
Sakura knew the face she turned on him with was probably not pretty, but she was thoroughly confused. She tended to skip her thought processing when confused.
"Yah, so?" Sakura bit out with more attitude than intended. Shii just stared at her. 'Smart move! Are you trying to make your life more difficult? And you call him the idiot…' So sue her, school was a sore and thoroughly over-discussed subject!
Too late to fix her rash statement, Sakura just tried to continue eating normally. Though in her effort to appear normal, she wound up scoffing down too much at once, almost choked, all while managing to nearly pierce her tongue with a chop stick.
But Shii seemed to have a point to make, and so was reigning in his quick temper so he could make his way all the way there. Sakura knew he would never normally let that type of rudeness ('though deserved for poking his nose where it doesn't belong!') towards himself go so easily. So naturally, amidst her mini thought-rants, she was worried that they weren't already fighting. She had a temper just as bad, if not worse than his, but she usually restrained herself better. She knew how much it was taking for him to keep from snapping at her, and it worried her that he was going through the effort. He normally had absolutely no control.
But his restraint wasn't that good. "We get along like shit. Kami, can't even start a conversation without one of us fuckin' gettin' all damn pissy." Sakura couldn't help but glare slightly. Kami-sama only knows he would never refer to himself as 'pissy,' though the description did fit him well….
'Focus!'
Sakura opened her mouth to give her colorful opinion about what she thought about being so blatantly insulted…
'Think too, stupid!'
… And she immediately closed it. She went to speak again, reigning herself in, and just responded with, "Never helps when the second sentence of the conversation is usually an insult."
Shii just chuckled faintly while muttering his agreement.
And Sakura smiled softly. She did love him - he was just a prick. 'You look up to him too, and want him to like you, much as you hate to admit it.' Losing to her own thoughts, Sakura conceded. He was the epitome of popularity, his life being one of leisure and ease.
Granted he had no real goals or plans for the future, but he had the present. He had a highly social personality once his ego deemed you worthy of seeing it, and gathered friends that would seem to do anything for him like it was going out of style. Hating to even think it, but she was not blind, so she also saw that he had the looks that made women of all ages swoon – which he was well and fully aware of.
In her weaker moments, Sakura found herself envying him for his life.
Which Sakura seemed to find, embarrassingly enough, was mainly when they were together and not fighting. She wanted him to accept her, maybe even help her, and she hated herself for it. It would just be so easy for him to do, just a few words here and there. Still, it just seemed like such a low place to sink. Give up a lifetime of true, fulfilling happiness to be happy for the moment. However long that would last. She knew exactly who she was and exactly what she wanted – when she was alone. She seemed to falter when in the presence of others.
Sakura came to this conclusion as she finished her last bite of food, and sighed pushing away her bowl. 'Maybe this is one of our issues...' Shii looked up, still not having finished his larger portion, but ignored her to finish eating.
Sakura finally realized one of the only times they got along were when no one was speaking or when they gently teased each other. But there was a fine line between their teasing and a deep personal insult, a line that was quite often, and quite easily crossed.
Shii eventually cleaned out his bowl as well, and decided to finish what he started. "So there a reason you didn't go again?"
'Its not concern, don't even go there. He is still going somewhere with all this.'
"If I didn't know any better I would say you were worried." Sakura joked, "What, no one fun to torture without me?"
"Nah, not really. All the good munchkins were already taken."
"Drew the short straw?"
"Me, lose? At anything?" Shii stretched back, laughed seemingly to himself, and put his hands behind his head. His confidence was in no way lacking. "Just thought I would be generous and spread the wealth for the day."
Sakura laughed quietly – though why exactly she was laughing at her brother's and his friends' torment of others she didn't fully know, or want to examine at all for that matter. So she cleared the dishes and began washing them. Shii remained at the table while he brought the conversation back around to whatever direction he was trying to steer it in.
"I did meet this hot chick today though." At this, Sakura looked over her shoulder at him and raised one brow, "Thanks for sharing."
"No problem." Sakura rolled her eyes before turning back to the sink when he continued. "I think she's your year. Long, bright blonde hair, darker on the bottom…"
Sakura's hands slowed their movement on the glass she was washing.
"Short, about your height, but she actually looks like a normal human being…"
Her hands stopped moving completely.
"Kinda pale skin with some light freckles on her nose, with bright green eyes, nicer than your dirty mold green…"
Her hands began to tighten around the innocent glass.
"She seemed to know you for some fuckin' reason. Her name's Kouhi."
And finally, the glass cracked. Sakura stared down in a daze at the crack spidering through the glass while her brother continued to ramble about the girl, still not-so-subtly slipping in insults. She tried to remember to breathe normally. 'Screw that! Sick 'em, girl!'
"Are you kidding me?" Sakura roared as she whipped around, spreading a shimmering arc of soapsuds across the kitchen in the process. Shii just looked up, stunned at the seemingly over-done reaction. He figured she was probably on her period or something along those lines.
"Why would I be kidding, and why are you so damn loud?"
"Shii," Sakura began, using his real name and lowering her voice almost dangerously, "Do you pay any attention to anything that goes on in anyone's life but your own?"
Shii's eyes narrowed at the insult that began to toe their finely drawn line of peace, but Sakura wasn't finished. "This is the one person in this Kami-forsaken place that is worse than the rest, who takes pleasure out of trying to ruin whatever she can in my life and everyone elses, who has tortured me since I was fourteen!" And as the rant went on, Sakura's voice grew. "She is a horrible person to so many other people, and Kami-sama knows that I am fully aware you don't give a damn about me, but the least you could do…"
"I guess it wouldn't make ya happy then that we were together from when school let out 'til about an hour ago." Shii interrupted with a smirk on his face, still lounging without a care in the world. He was watching intently for her to break.
But Sakura stopped in her tracks, slowly lowering the useless piece of glass she held to the countertop. 'Does family mean nothing to this asshole? Or even decency for that matter? And 'together'? Like I don't know what the hell that means! Eww! I knew he was a selfish bastard, but to do this, and intentionally it seems…' She couldn't even finish the train of thought before she lunged across the table and pounced.
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'Well, isn't this a predicament. It's a bit funny though that I'm the one starting the physical fight this time. I can always outsmart the idiot with a few well-chosen words. Usually it's him with the fists first; the condescending bastard knows he can most likely overpower me unless I want to really try to hurt him. He's two years older, has height and reach on me, plus they teach the guys some basic fighting techniques at school. Some garbage about protecting what's rightfully theirs when they're older… I know this is a bit much, but still, for so much, he has it coming – at the very least I might get a chance to actually rough him up a bit before I'm seein' stars.'
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Her thoughts may not have been quite coherent as she flew through the air, over the cleared table, but Sakura got the gist of it through the fully-developed rage. Who knew a moment like that could really stretch so much? Kinda freaky. She figured that was more of a concept to make stories more dramatic. Sure enough though, this second seemed to stretch for hours. It wasn't her life flashing before her eyes, but second thoughts. Too much, too rash, too trivial a reason: but there was only so far that it could possibly go for before the reality of what she was heading for hit her consciousness.
Just as her fist was about to hit Shii's surprised pretty-boy face.
And she remembered everything he's done to cut her so deep.
Shii certainly did not expect her to react as she did either. Normally, he can get his only younger sibling on the brink of tears before she finds some excuse to leave and preserve some of her pride. The only time it comes to blows is when he makes her more angry than upset, and she says something she shouldn't. Insulting him, talking about her friends, talking about herself without him initiating it first - all legitimate reasons. I mean no one wants to hear it, he's doing the world a favor. Then he simply puts her in her place. Simple. She needs to be taught a solid lesson now and then. Or quite often. Nuthin' wrong with that, right?
But, this was not the normal situation, now was it? Shii realized quickly when Sakura's fisted hand connected with the far side of his left cheek between his jaw and his ear.
Sakura had never actually gotten through his defenses and landed a hit on his face before. It's always the intended target, but she never expects to land home. Originally her right fist was aimed dead center, but she changed its trajectory at the last second. Strong restraint and some guilt she supposed. Maybe fear of actually hitting him, hurting him. She had never done that to anyone before. But still, it connected, and still, it looked painful.
Not frightening at all, actually, and the small victory was not enough.
Sakura was not finished causing him a little bit of hurt in return. Not only for his last words and actions, but for years of it. And she was being merciful. 'Internal, personal, gut-wrenching wounds only those close can inflict do not heal as easily as the simple bruise or cut… I should know, I have had enough of both to have figured it out by now.'
So, the jerk should be pleased she was feeling kind enough to offer her fist rather than some cutting words and harsh truths she knew would be highly effective.
After both of their shock at Sakura landing the blow wore off, and both were toppling over with all of the excess momentum searching for a way to be used, each combatant reacted differently. Shii immediately took up the defense in order to get the upper hand and get her where he wanted. He knew superior positioning was the best way to achieve a simpler, swifter victory. Sakura, on the other hand, lost all sense of self and continued in a blind rage. She assumed she was throwing an unending barrage of punches and kicks, with each hitting home, every single time a grimace appearing on Shii's normally pompous features.
Back in real life though, Shii had already taken control of the situation. She was flat on her back beside the newly upturned table, still struggling as though her life depended on it. He held both of her small wrists in one of his hands down to his left against the floor, beside where his left knee rested. His right knee was lodged securely into her stomach, just below her ribs, and his right forearm propped against her neck, one of the bones there familiarizing itself intimately with Sakura's trachea.
He smirked at the ease at which he pinned her down, and waited patiently in this position for her to realize she lost. But she still struggled violently without focus, and Shii quickly lost his last remnants of patience as he began to feel the throbbing of his left cheek, thinking the spot was in such an odd location. She hit two bones and some soft tissue. Not bothering to pick at the thought at the moment, he focused back on his superior skill and prowess. To get Sakura to submit and get her back to feeling pathetic (as she very well should) more quickly, he utilized his vast knowledge and experience to clarify the results. Or plain old logic , as he merely began to descend his right arm to the floor, effectively blocking her air flow.
Sakura snapped out of her unseeing fury quickly when she realized she could not breathe properly. And she almost started pitying herself, as she realized the winning battle she had been fighting not moments ago could not be any further from the truth.
That was a damn smirk, not a grimace. She wanted to change that.
She had some thought processing back – well at least she was seeing reality now – and she was far from done. He had larger hands and stronger arms, but she figured there was no way he could hold both of her arms still with just his weaker left hand. So freeing her arms comes first, because she had to get loose and stop him before he made her pass out – again.
And so she focused all of her remaining energy on gaining control of her hands, then she may Have the chance to gain the advantage. She never yields to the point where he is satisfied – she never begs, never really cries in front of him, never minimizes her worth, never breaks – and so every time things boil over she ends up losing consciousness. And she hadn't caused enough damage to be finished just yet.
'Not this time.'
She twisted her wrists around and between each other to make him lose his grip. Eventually she began to make some headway, and started pulling her arms closer to herself, then pushing away, keeping the pattern random. Shii was not prepared to give up though, and tried to tighten his grip to keep his upper hand.
In the process, one of Shii's nails dug deeply into the skin of Sakura's inner forearm, but still she refused to lose. Continuing to twist and thrash to gain an edge, the gash that was being created began to curve erratically along with the twits of her arms. But dealing with the pain and the blood paid off, as both of her arms were now free.
Shii quickly made to rectify his slip up, and once again restrained the arm closest to him, which unfortunately for her was her right, but still her bloodied left remained unbound.
Sakura took the opportunity when she felt Shii's arm at her neck loosen slightly as he focused on her other actions to get him off of her. She took a chance drawing his attention to her free limb should she fail. But it was worth the risk should it land true. She knew he was too close to get a solid hit with her fist, so she used some of her leverage and swung around her bent left elbow and shoulder towards his neck. She made sure to restrain the amount of force behind it so as to not seriously injure him in such a vulnerable place.
But the force proved sufficient, adding drama as her own blood scattered across hit skin. Within the blink of an eye they laid side by side, on their backs, on the floor, panting harshly. Soon each seemed to realize they were still mid-fight and stumbled away from each other as they found their legs to stand. Sakura hated grappling on the floor, it made her feel so constricted and confined – too easy to be trapped. But now that she was standing, facing off against her surprised aniki, she honestly did not know what to do.
So she went with the only instinct she had, and charged once again.
As Shii was still having some trouble breathing, or even seeing straight for that matter, he was not fully prepared for the next assault. He found himself standing in the same location that he was before he ate: in the doorway, in between the kitchen and living room.
But in the next moment, his arm was forced behind his back in an oddly familiar way. Shii found himself smiling at her cleverness, as he saw her frantic pink locks pass through his lower peripheral vision. He had put her in various locks and chokeholds over the years, testing their mechanics, effectiveness and ease of application. While Sakura kept her head down and body low, she must have decided to do the same and put one of his choice locks to action against him now.
Unfortunately for the ignorant and outmatched little girl, Shii was capable of both initiating and breaking such holds, and his smugness radiated off him.
Sakura knew exactly what he was thinking, but it did not matter. Her goal was not to keep him still for long, as she knew she couldn't. Her objective was to throw him backwards against the wall behind him; hence the fact that they were still moving, her forwards and him backwards.
Shii never put all the pieces together at once in his still-fuzzy mind. There was the lock, and there was the movement. For him, the lock came first, as it could be more problematic, so it was to be dealt with first. So as they moved backwards, he worked to break the lock.
He almost did, too, but it proved futile when all factors were applied.
In the beginning stages of disengaging from Sakura's hold, she slammed him back into the wall. His wrist, at the moment, was bent, and so upon contact with the solid object there was a sickening crack that seemed to echo unendingly through the house. One of those sounds that, even against the strongest of wills, simply refuses to cease replying in the mind. A few dragging seconds after there was a cry of pain involuntarily erupting from Shii's mouth that echoed even louder and longer than the crack itself.
A smile of triumph made its way to Sakura's face as she stumbled a few steps back, looking over her handy work ('Wow, I am just on point with the puns today!' she thought, grinning wider). It was not the original plan – she thought there was much more fight ahead. But circumstances seemed to be on her side. She won, for the first time in her memory, and to be so successful!
Then Shii's trembling knees gave way, and he fell, cradling his left wrist close to his chest, gasping for air like it was his last breaths on this earth. Sakura let out a soft gasp, a shaking hand lightly covering her open mouth, her smile long forgotten. Her aniki's head hung low, back hunched over, shaggy red hair shielding his arms from view. He was literally curling in on himself, protecting the damage. Fear and remorse began to make its way through Sakura when she walked slowly, unable to stop shivering, over to her brother.
She always gets lost in her anger and in the fight.
And she is always satisfied until she comes back to herself and realizes exactly what it is that she did.
But this time it was bad.
She never wins.
As Sakura continued to creep forward, lowering herself to Shii's slumped height, Shii looked up quickly with murder in his eyes. Speaking out for the first time since they made their initial contact, Shii's voice was shaky and low. Sakura leaned closer to hear him, and to help him.
Just as she caught the words, "You fucking bitch," his right arm lashed out and struck her side. She fell, and slammed her elbow to the floor to try to catch herself before hitting her head.
Shii went to hit her again, but he found himself swinging at nothing but air. He looked up again to see Sakura wrenched off the floor to her feet and manhandled into the kitchen. Looking around the room for more interference, he was met with a gentle hand to support his face. Luck was against him that it happened to be his injured side, making him wince. So the hand was quickly removed, only to be replaced comfortingly on the other side.
He reigned in his anger temporarily and just succumbed to the soothing words that were being whispered to him as he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.
Knowing that you're just not done grants more control.
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All the fight went out of her as soon as she was picked up off the ground and tossed away from scene's final location and into it's starting site. She felt every heartbeat in the ribs Shii just hit and the elbow she caught herself with. Her fight or flight instinct turned immediately to flight, but she resigned herself to knowing there was nowhere to run.
Not just yet.
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You may not know:
aniki : older brother
okaa-san : mother
